Ecuador & Galapagos Island Luxury Trip Review, Yacht Cruise, Quito, Wildlife, Snorkeling, Chocolate Tasting

Review by traveler

shantilal k.

10.2.2019

General Info

Traveler Review

Which Country (Countries) did you visit on this trip?

Galapagos / Ecuador

Your overall comments on the trip and the travel company:

Very good. Staff on the yacht was very very good and did go out of their way to make sure all our needs were well taken care of. Hotel in Quito is a very good facility and we had wonderful stay there for two nights.
Travel company was okay, little disappointed in couple of different things:
1. About close to two (2) wks before the trip started, for this the yacht scheduled departure, they had announced 50% reduction on the cost of the yacht scheduled excursion for the same dates. The travel agent did not tell me about it or notify me, it was only when I determined this on my own and when discussed with the agent, she gave me refund of 5% decrease in the charges, but this certainly is not appropriate and satisfactory . In my opinion it should be at least be 20-25% refund. I understand this promotion was done because there was still 40% vacancy for the guests on this scheduled trip.
2. I think one can do this trip activities - particularly all sight seeing - included in this trip in a five (5) night cruise, rather than needing seven (7) nights.
3. Guide in Quito was average. Chocolate testing experience was a disaster ! We went to one place first, then guide found that this was the wrong place, we walked to second place, where they accommodated us, but only with Spanish speaking person whom I did not understand much and guide acted as poor interpreter for me.

What were the most enjoyable or memorable parts of your trip?

Galapagos wild life with all sea animals, iguanas, birds, giant tortoises, history of the islands will never be forgotten !
My daughters had very good time snorkeling and we made some new friends with guests on the yacht.

If you could take your trip again, what would you do differently?

As I mentioned our entire experience could be as well done in altogether in seven (7) days instead of ten(10) days.

Travel Company Comments:

Dear Shantilal,

First of all, thank you for your review and for allowing us to design your trip to Ecuador.

I appreciate your positive comments and I am glad you enjoy the Galapagos Cruise and the Hotel in Quito; we are very careful in selecting the accommodations for our guests and we are happy to know you enjoy them very much.

I am very sorry to hear that your trip experience didn't reach a 5 stars, even though we tried very hard our best to go over your expectations

But appreciate very much your feedback and take it very seriously to keep improving our services every day, such as the chocolate tasting experience for which we are already taking the correction with the local supplier.

The time on Galapagos is a matter of preference. As mentioned during the planning stage you can take cruises from 3 to 14 night, and according to your time availability for the trip we suggested detailed itinerary that thought was more suitable for you.

On regards to the cruise discount , as we mentioned during our previous conversations the ship owners decided to provide this as last-minute discount and only to their new bookings (as you may understand this is a strategy many companies utilize to fill out their spaces use such as airlines, hotels, and cruises).

So, unfortunately, we were not informed about it either; however, once we knew about this we put all our efforts to help you with additional benefits, even though the trip was already booked and paid. Please consider your total savings where about $3.800 USD.

Once again I appreciate your comments and for giving us the opportunity to host you in Ecuador.

Overall I hope you and your daughters had a great time in our country and enjoyed the "Enchanted Islands" and I hope you can come back soon.

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